אם זרחה השמש עליו": עיון חוזר"

The article takes issue with Joseph Tawil's suggestion (Lĕšonénu 69 [2007], pp. 31-37) that Rabbi Ishmael's homiletical interpretation of Exod. 22:1-2 (Mek., Nezikin 13) reflects the plain meaning of the verse. Tawil grounds his argument in Ugaritic parallels in which the comparison to the sun appears in legal expressions denoting the defendant's purity of intent and innocence. But this comparison fails to forward our understanding either of Rabbi Ishmael's midrash or of the verse. In the case of Rabbi Ishmael, the example of the sun is but one of three instances in which he uses metaphorical exegesis; accordingly, I argue that his willingness to interpret the verse in this fashion is not grounded in the existence of a prevalent linguistic coinage. As for the verse, in addition to the problematic nature of arguing that the thief is as "pure as the sun", the main difficulty in Rabbi Ishmael's exegesis is not its metaphorical hermeneutics but its overlooking of the opposition in the verse. Rabbi Ishmael understands "if the sun has risen on him" as meaning that the thief certainly has no murderous intent; therefore there is bloodguilt for the house owner who kills him, even if the thief was found tunneling. Indeed, the plain meaning of the text is not apparent even according to those who interpret it by distinguishing between daytime and nighttime robbery. Nighttime is entirely missing from the pericope and the language of the verse demonstrates that it does not treat two thieves or events, but one act of theft with two possible outcomes: the thief is found and killed while tunneling or after the sun has risen on him. As a result, Rabbi Joseph Bekhor Shor suggested the following interpretation, which fully accords with the verse's plain meaning: the distinction relates not to the time but to the place where the thief is discovered. If found while tunneling, regardless of whether during the day or at night, the house owner has no bloodguilt; but if the thief has left cover, and is in the open, then bloodguilt applies.